r the curse of
darkness; they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit, forgot the
God of their fathers, lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into
the fallen state in which the American Indians--their lineal
descendants--were found by those who rediscovered the western continent
in later times. See the author's _Articles of Faith_ xiv:7, 8.

4. The First Gospel Dispensation.--The gospel of Jesus Christ was
revealed to Adam. Faith in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son the
Savior of Adam and all his posterity, repentance of sin, water baptism
by immersion, and the reception of the Holy Ghost as a divine bestowal
were proclaimed in the beginning of human history as the essentials to
salvation. The following scriptures attest this fact. "And thus the
Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy
angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice and by
the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Moses 5:58). The prophet Enoch thus
testified: "But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must
repent. And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I
am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. And he
also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my
voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be
baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is
full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which
shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the
children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all
things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you"
(Moses 6:50-52; read also 53-61). "And now, behold, I say unto you: This
is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only
Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time" (62). "And it came to
pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried
unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was
carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was
brought forth out of the water. And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit
of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit and became
quickened in the inner man. And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying:
Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record
of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and for ever" (64-66).
Comp